The present invention relates to a procedure for utilizing the waste heat of large condenser power plants and to the transfer of these quantities of heat.
For national, economic and technical reasons it is necessary to utilize the waste heat occurring in power plants to a greater extent than has been done in the past.
It is already known in the art how to operate thermal power stations with increased back-pressure and to conduct the waste heat in the form of steam to the heat consumers. It is also known how to generate hot water by means of the waste heat of the back-pressure turbines or with bleeder steam of pass-out condensing turbines and to conduct and to distribute heat in this form to the consumers and thus use it for heating purposes. These known procedures have the disadvantage of having to operate with relatively high temperature differences between heating medium and the ambient zone, so that when bridging large distances, considerable efforts must be made for the insulation of the transport lines to prevent too much heat from getting lost to the surrounding area. For this reason, up to the present, thermal power plants or stations are erected as close as possible to the centers of the consumption. As a result, location advantages outside of urban centers cannot be utilized. In particular, it is not possible to establish such thermal power plants in the vicinity of fuel dumps or favorable locations for the obtaining of electrical energy or cooling water supply.
Another disadvantage is that because of the disproportion between waste heat quantity and the necessary electric power generation, the possible unit size of thermal power plants is extremely restricted. This fact leads to considerable economic disadvantages from the viewpoint of investments.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to transfer or transport the waste heat of condenser power plants from locations favorable to the construction of power plants to urban centers where heat is in demand. The heat transfer will be accomplished economically with minimum heat losses and at minimum cost.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for transporting waste heat of condenser power plants over substantially long distances without requiring complex equipment or installations.
A further object of present invention is to provide a method, as described, in which substantially low maintenance costs are involved and which have a long life in service.